[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2674-S2675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 27--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
    THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES SHOULD NOT BE HELD IN BEIJING UNLESS THE 
  GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA RELEASES ALL POLITICAL 
 PRISONERS, RATIFIES THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL 
      RIGHTS, AND OBSERVES INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS

  Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Smith 
of New Hampshire) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 27

       Whereas the International Olympic Committee is in the 
     process of determining the venue of the Olympic Games in the 
     year 2008 and is scheduled to make that decision at the 
     International Olympic Committee meeting scheduled for Moscow 
     in July 2001;
       Whereas the city of Beijing has made a proposal to the 
     International Olympic Committee that the summer Olympic Games 
     in the year 2008 be held in Beijing;
       Whereas the Olympic Charter states that Olympism and the 
     Olympic ideal seek to foster ``respect for universal 
     fundamental ethical principles'';
       Whereas the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 48/
     11 (October 25, 1993) recognized ``that the Olympic goal of 
     the Olympic Movement is to build a peaceful and

[[Page S2675]]

     better world by educating the youth of the world through 
     sport, practiced without discrimination of any kind and the 
     Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding, promoted 
     by friendship, solidarity, and fair play'';
       Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 50/13 
     (November 7, 1995) stressed ``the importance of the 
     principles of the Olympic Charter, according to which any 
     form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person 
     on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex, or otherwise is 
     incompatible with the Olympic Movement'';
       Whereas the Department of State's Country Reports on Human 
     Rights Practices for 2000 reports the following:
       (1) ``The [Chinese] government continued to commit 
     widespread and well-documented human rights abuses, in 
     violation of internationally accepted norms.''.
       (2) ``Abuses included instances of extra judicial killings, 
     the use of torture, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and 
     detention, the mistreatment of prisoners, lengthy 
     incommunicado detention, and denial of due process.''.
       (3) ``The Government infringed on citizens' privacy 
     rights.''.
       (4) ``The Government maintained tight restrictions on 
     freedom of speech and of the press, and increased its efforts 
     to control the Internet; self-censorship by journalists 
     continued.''.
       (5) ``The Government severely restricted freedom of 
     assembly and continued to restrict freedom of association.''.
       (6) ``The Government continued to restrict freedom of 
     religion and intensified controls on some unregistered 
     churches.''.
       (7) ``The Government continued to restrict freedom of 
     movement.''.
       (8) ``The Government does not permit independent domestic 
     nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor publicly 
     human rights conditions.''.
       (9) ``[The Government has not stopped] violence against 
     women (including coercive family planning practices--which 
     sometimes include forced abortion and forced 
     sterilization).''.
       (10) ``The Government continued to restrict tightly worker 
     rights, and forced labor in prison facilities remains a 
     serious problem. Child labor exists and appears to be a 
     growing problem in rural areas as adult workers leave for 
     better employment opportunities in urban areas.''.
       (11) ``Some minority groups, particularly Tibetan Buddhists 
     and Muslim Uighurs, came under increasing pressure as the 
     Government clamped down on dissent and `separatist' 
     activities.'';
       Whereas the egregious human rights abuses committed by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China are inconsistent 
     with the Olympic ideal;
       Whereas 119 Chinese dissidents and relatives of imprisoned 
     political prisoners, from 22 provinces and cities, issued an 
     open letter on January 16, 2001, signed at enormous political 
     risk which expresses the ``grief and indignation for each of 
     China's political prisoners and their families'', asks the 
     Chinese Government to release all of China's political 
     prisoners, and asserts that the release of China's political 
     prisoners will improve ``Beijing's stature in its bid for the 
     2008 Olympics''; and
       Whereas although the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China signed the International Covenant on Civil and 
     Political Rights in 1998, but has failed to ratify the 
     treaty, and has indicated that it will not fully implement 
     the recently ratified International Covenant on Economic, 
     Social and Cultural Rights: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That the Congress--
       (1) acknowledges and supports the January 16, 2001, open 
     letter released by Chinese dissidents and the families of 
     imprisoned Chinese political prisoners stating that the 
     release of China's political prisoners would improve 
     Beijing's stature in its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games;
       (2) expresses the view that, consistent with its stated 
     principles, the International Olympic Committee should not 
     award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing unless the Government of 
     the People's Republic of China releases all of China's 
     political prisoners, ratifies the International Covenant on 
     Civil and Political Rights without major reservations, fully 
     implements the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 
     Cultural Rights, and observes internationally recognized 
     human rights;
       (3) calls for the creation of an international Beijing 
     Olympic Games Human Rights Campaign in the event that Beijing 
     receives the Olympics to focus international pressure on the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China to grant a 
     general amnesty for all political prisoners prior to the 
     commencement of the 2008 Olympics as well as to ratify the 
     International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
       (4) calls on the Secretary of State to endorse publicly the 
     creation of the Beijing Olympic Games Human Rights Campaign 
     in the event that Beijing receives the Olympics, and to 
     utilize all necessary diplomatic resources to encourage other 
     nations to endorse and support the campaign as well, focusing 
     particular attention on member states of the European Union 
     and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 
     Japan, Canada, Australia, the Nordic countries, and all other 
     countries engaged in human rights dialogue with China;
       (5) requests that the President, during his expected 
     participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 
     Leaders Summit in Shanghai in October 2001, call for the 
     release of all Chinese political prisoners and Chinese 
     ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and 
     Political Rights;
       (6) recommends that the Congressional-Executive Commission 
     on the People's Republic of China, established under title 
     III of the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-
     286), devote significant resources to monitoring any 
     violations of the rights of political dissidents and 
     political prisoners, or other increased abuses of 
     internationally recognized human rights, in the preparation 
     to the 2008 Olympic Games and during the Olympic Games 
     themselves; and
       (7) directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the senior International Olympic 
     Committee representative in the United States with the 
     request that it be circulated to all members of the 
     Committee.

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